Someone Like Me?
by CDSoundtrack
Summary: During a mission with Team Seven, the Nibi is mentioned, spiking Naruto's curiousity and creating a new path for him to follow! What would Naruto do for Someone Like Him?
1. Chapter 1

Someone Like Me?

Prologue: Yugito Nii… (Part 1)

"Hey, Nekobaa?" Naruto's curiosity hadn't stopped itching in his mind since the old, catlike woman had mentioned something earlier in the day, before Team 7 had set out to 'subtly' invade a town of ninja cats. "I… Kinda have a question about something you said earlier…"

Shame is, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno hardly ever did anything subtly, as MANY would attest to.

"Ugh, Naruto, we really should be getting back to Konoha soon to report the success of our mission." Sakura groused at the blonde, the pink haired girl as usual less than pleased with her teammates general attitude.

Sasuke was of no help to them, fists clenched at the knowledge that the mission they'd just taken on had been a test of all things from Itachi Uchiha, the man responsible for the incident labeled the Uchiha Massacre.

"It'll just take a sec Sakura!" Naruto tried to assure the pinkette, making her huff and turn away in irritation.

"What is it lad?" Nekobaa asked with a kind smile as he approached, and his teammates impatiently left the supply shop to prepare to leave.

"Well… It's about that paw print you got before Nekomata's…" Naruto shifted slightly uncomfortably, but pressed on, the name of that cat had gotten his interest.

"The Nibi? Yes, I got help from a kunoichi from the Hidden Cloud to get her paw print!" Nekobaa smiled in that warm and kind way that old ladies tended to, encouraging Naruto to continue.

"That's… that's the Two-Tailed Cat…" He suddenly found the floor beneath his shinobi sandals rather interesting. "By any chance is it… related to the Nine-Tailed Fox? A… creature like it?"

Nekobaa opened her eyes slightly as she took another look at the blonde and realized there was no doubt about it, she knew who this 'Uzumaki Naruto' was, she did after all pay attention to Konoha despite living in the 'abandoned' black market city Sora-ku.

"A Bijuu, a Tailed Beast you mean?" At his nod she figured he may as well be given this much hope. "Yes, the Nibi is the Two-Tailed Hellcat, a creature of incredible power much like the Nine-Tails… And sealed in a Jinchuuriki just like it."  
"W-what?! No way, the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi!" Naruto had no idea what 'Jinchuuriki' meant, but he knew enough that she was talking about him, so objected with the official story of the Fourth Hokage slaying the beast, rather than the truth that he sacrificed himself to seal it within the blonde on the day of his birth…

"I may be old but I am not dumb." At the stern words he looked down apologetically.

"R-right… so, someone else out there has a Bijuu in them? Besides me and Gaara?" It would surprise Naruto, how… calm he was, when really he wanted nothing more than to sprint towards the Hidden Cloud village as fast as he could to meet this person.

To be fair, it would help if he knew where the Land of Lightning was, much less the Hidden Cloud!

So as such he struggled to remain patient despite the annoyance bubbling in him that Nekobaa wasn't just being straight with him.

"Well, yes… the one I speak of is Yugito Nii, a Shinobi of the Hidden Cloud." She finally told him, making Naruto perk up, a wide grin stretching across the Genin's face.

"Yugito Nii… thanks old lady, I appreciate it!" And with that he left to the irritated hisses and even yowls of her cats at the blatant disrespect, zooming past Sakura trying to ask out the still deep in thought Sasuke. "Come on guys, let's hurry up!"

"Hn." Sasuke spoke eloquently as always, and started to follow the blonde.

"Hey! Sasuke? Naruto!" Sakura grew irritated at being left behind by the duo (Mostly Naruto, since Sasuke could do no wrong towards her), but Naruto could barely think of anything but the idea that there was someone like him out there.

Someone that would hopefully not be a killer from loneliness and pain like Gaara had been.

Saving Gaara from himself during the Sand/Sound invasion of the Leaf Village, it had opened his eyes that he wasn't the only one cursed to be a… Jinchuuriki, Nekobaa had called them, the containers of the monstrous Tailed Beasts…

And now he knew there was one more out there, and where he could find them! A new Promise filled his heart as he looked to the sky dramatically, that he WOULD find Yugito and show her that she isn't alone either!

 **Whoo, I have returned! As you may be able to tell, I've been watching Naruto Shippuden again, and got back to the Stories from the Leaf Village Filler arc immediately following the Pein battle. Which gave me this idea here, what if Naruto took an interest in Nekobaa's mentioning of the Two-Tails, and thus learning of Yugito Nii in the Hidden Cloud Village! What will he do with this information? Now THAT right there is the question isn't it?**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Convincing Tsunade, Forging a Path!

"...Eh?" Tsunade Senju, the Goddamn (Godaime) Hokage blinked in stunned surprise at the intensity in Naruto's eyes, his words. Sure, he always had determination, that was the whole reason she was sitting behind this desk after all, but Naruto Uzumaki was almost shaking with his own sheer force of will. "Could you… repeat that gaki (brat)?" She had to ask, wondering if she was still hungover.

Probably.

"I want to go to Kumo Baa-chan!" He repeated, making her twitch at being called old, but his words were enough to make her pause from slamming a fist into the top of his head.

"Kumo… despite the peace since the Third Great Ninja War, we aren't on the best of terms with the Hidden Cloud Village. Why would you want to go in there?" She asked, trying to come up with some way to talk him down.

 _*He looks too much like his father… it could be worse if he wanted to go to Iwagakure, but Kumo is a close second for villages that hold a grudge against him…*_

For a split second Naruto looked uncomfortable, before placing a hand on his stomach, which sobered the Hokage as she realized he was referring to his seal.

"I… don't want anyone else to be like how Gaara was… another person like us lives in Kumo…" Now a wide grin crossed his face, and he clenched his fist, sapphire eyes aglow with determination. "So I want to go to Kumo and show her that she's not alone, that she has a precious person in her life like I do, believe it!"

There that was again. 'Precious People'. Tsunade had yet to discover the reasoning behind the young blonde's Nindo- his Way of the Ninja-, but it was very clear to her that any insult to or endangerment of a person he found precious would be met with extreme retribution.

Without even meeting her once, just for the sake of having another Bijuu inside of her, Naruto had decided to add her to those ranks due to what he saw as a similar situation.

She had to wonder if it was possible he was selfishly building up an image in his head of the Cloud kunoichi as someone who understands him, who would stand by him even if she knew of the Kyuubi. It made sense to the Slug Princess anyway, no matter how precious Sakura and Sasuke were to him (Despite their own feelings of annoyance towards the blonde for the most part), she had no doubt that some part of him feared how they would react to the truth of what happened that night twelve years ago.

Really, with the way he'd been treated all his life, at least by the way the Third Hokage's notes on many, MANY incidents were written, Tsunade didn't blame him. Honestly, on the particularly bad days she wouldn't have blamed him for becoming a homicidal maniac like Gaara had been before the Sand/Sound Invasion of the Leaf…

"... Baa-chan?" He tried to get her attention, having actually climbed atop her desk to wave a hand in her face, only for his own to be met by a fist that launched him across the office, and forming a hole into the hallway, which he was sprawled across. "Oh, hey, you guys got a new plant!"

"Tsunade-Sama!" Shizune gasped at the particularly fierce punch as Naruto brushed himself off.

"Brat should know better than to stand on my desk by now." Tsunade defended, knowing she hadn't hit him THAT hard, as far as her power goes she's actually hit him harder, but then she sighed and slouched, entwining her fingers. "But the point is, I can't just send you to Kumo Naruto."

"Seriously? Why the hell not?!" He couldn't help his irritation as he ran up to her desk again, now covered in dust and leaving a trail of the greyish white material, even coughing some out. "If she's ANYTHING like me Baa-Chan, she needs someone! Knowing there are people out there like me, that they have lives like my own or even worse… I _have_ to meet them, to make sure they know they aren't as alone as they feel!" He was getting mad now, fists clenched as he approached the desk he one day desired so strongly to be on the other side of.

"I understand that Naruto, I do." She tried to assure him, but the Jinchuuriki was on a roll now.

"No, you don't Baa-Chan." He groused. "How was _your_ childhood? How many friends did you have? Or family? Or people who believe in you? Gaara didn't have that, I sure as hell didn't, I'd be willing to bet every ryou and smidgen of respect I've ever earned as a Genin of this village that Yugito Nii didn't have that either!"

"Naruto, you really need to calm down." Her voice was clad in iron currently, a no nonsense tone that he instinctively listened. "This is one of the reasons why I can't allow you to go to Kumo. You get too involved, and can react in very exaggerated ways when you get angered or frustrated by things not going your way. If you add your volatile nature to our already strained relationship with the Hidden Cloud Village…" She sighed and shook her head. "I want to help you out brat, I really do, but I can't agree to this, not when diplomacy is at stake." Tsunade felt supremely guilty, not able to tell him the true reason why she couldn't let him get anywhere near Kumo.

If they saw the mini, whiskered Yondaime clone that Naruto was turning out to be (Well, with his mother's personality anyway), they probably wouldn't be getting Naruto back anytime soon, at best.

At worst, they were looking at another war between Ninja Villages, and so soon after the Invasion of Sand and Sound, the Leaf Village would be way too vulnerable a target for, say, Iwa to pass up.

Terrible as it sounds, thank goodness the Mist Village had its own problems currently with that Bloodline Civil War going down...

"..." An impish grin began to flash over his features.

"You don't even know where the Land of Lightning is, much less Kumo itself, there's no way in hell you could get there before our Hunter Nins drag your orange clad ass back here into a cell for running from the village."

Naruto's grin turned 'innocent' as if to say that hadn't been something he had just considered. "No way I'd _ever_ do something like that Baa-Chan." She rolled her eyes at the Chesire Cat level smirk on his face.

"Sure, and I'm thirty days sober." She sent a glare to Shizune and Tonton, one of whom had snorted in derision or disbelief at her comment. "Really Naruto… there's no way I can allow this, I am sorry."

As if she didn't feel guilty enough, there was a look of heartbreak that flashed in his blue eyes for a short amount of time before he tried to hide it by putting on a mask of his usual attitude. "Nah, don't worry about it Baa-Chan! I was really hoping I could, but I get it!"

No, he didn't, Tsunade seemed to just be making excuses! But screw it, he'd ask Jiraiya instead! That Perverted Sage was basically a free ninja, able to wander around to work on his spy network more or less as he pleased, which meant that if Naruto could get the old bastard to take him to Kumo, he was totally golden!

Hehe, here she thought she'd totally shut him down!

"Uh… sure thing brat, just go ahead and take a break after your assignment…" She waved him off and as the blonde Genin ran, the blonde Hokage reached below her desk to grope for something specific only to glare suspiciously at Shizune. "Where's my sake?"

"Shouldn't you be working on that thirty days sober thing, Tsunade-Sama?" She asked with a cheeky and almost mischievous look that made the Slug Princess feel her apprentice MAY be spending too much time with the Genin who she seemed to treat like a little brother.

"Shizune, I swear to Kami…"


End file.
